The impact of urbanization on children’s diets: longitudinal evidence from Cebu

We investigate the longitudinal relationship between urbanization and children's dietary diversity using a large, detailed survey conducted in Cebu, Philippines, during its period of rapid transformation in the 1990s. Using a panel of 1840 children observed at ages 8, 11, and 15, we model children’s weekly consumption of food items included in the meat, seafood, rice, vegetables, beans, tubers, fruits, and dairy groups. Within child-household variation in the characteristics of urban communities (barangays) during this period helps us to empirically identify potential causal relationships. We find that urbanization is significantly positively associated with children’s consumption of meat, fruit, and meals prepared at home and negatively associated with the consumption of vegetables and sweets. Models allowing for interactions between household socioeconomic status (SES) and local community urbanization reveal nuanced relationships with children’s dietary outcomes. Children from lower SES households have greater dietary diversity if living in communities with greater urbanization and consume significantly larger amounts of meat, fruits, and dairy. Urbanization is also associated with more frequent consumption of meals prepared at home and less consumption of sweet foods, on average. Overall, the findings suggest that the urbanization of local communities during this stage of development contributes to improvements in children’s diets.